Monday, January 17, 2011

snorkeling in moorea, french polynesia

aside from our honeymoon and a few short weekend trips around the texas coastline, we never go on 'beach vacations'. but after a year of travels full of activity, where i often found my physical limits stretched (allthough, don't get me wrong, i usually had a blast) i thought perhaps it was time for one. so, as i mentioned two posts ago, for the last holiday of 2010, we went the relaxing and luxurious route, and found ourselves in beautiful french polynesia.

we spent the first three days in moorea, and filled our time with relaxation and snorkeling. snorkeling may very well be one of my top favorite activities of all times. we snorkeled everyday, sometimes twice, and it was always difficult to tear ourselves out of the water. it never failed to amaze me that all i had to do is float and put my face into the water to see a whole different world, teeming with life- and when i lifted my head, it was just gone.

the amount of fish off the beaches of moorea was incredible. even just walking along the beach you could spot fish darting around. we saw an impressive amount of life, even though we were always inside the reef, and the water was never very deep. i doubt it was ever more than seven feet!

we opted for one excursion, the helmet dive with aquablue during our trip, namely because we got to wear one of these:

and walk around the bottom of the ocean. it was just as fun as it was hilarious in concept. oxygen is pumped into the helmet (notice the tube?) so one can breathe normally underwater. we felt like water astronauts as balancing was rather tricky, and it was great fun bounding around the ocean floor. it also gave us a slightly different experience with the sea life, and we petted sting rays, fed fish, and warily observed a javanese moray eel from a distance. if you ever have an opportunity to do this, i'd highly recommend it.

I'm so glad you enjoyed yourself. You are like my personal travel agent. All I have to do is wait for you to go some place and let me know which hotels to stay at and what to do. I'm guaranteed to have a great time.